Her room August 2, 2008
Posted by Mommy in Baby Gear.Tags: baby's room, dresser, recliner
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It occurred to me the other day that all the stuff we’re putting together and placing all around the baby’s room will be hers. The bed is not my baby bed; it’s hers. The pretty new dresser we got for her (see below) is not ours; its hers. The bookshelf we’ll get for all the books we’ll read to her will not belong to us; it will belong to her. It could all even go with her to college or to her first home some day. (Except for the baby bed, I hope.)
(Isn't it adorable??)
Some of you may be thinking, “That looks awfully tall; can you, in fact, reach the top of it?” Yes, friends; and thanks for worrying about my vertically challenged stature-arms in particular. We are not attaching the feet to the bottom of the dresser at this time; to do so would mean that D. would have to change all the diapers. Wait a minute….
Anyway, there is something kind of wonderful about watching her room come together slowly. Last night, as D. was working on putting the dresser together, I sat in the recliner (it will continue to belong to us; sorry, Baby…) watching and surfing the internet for information on things like baby bedding (found a REALLY cute set), baby registries (scary!), and car seat/strollers combos. I think they are called “travel systems.” That sounds like luggage to me, but whatever. I enjoyed my time in the recliner, and so did my swelling ankles, so I wondered why I don’t spend more time in here.
I’ve decided to spend my time working today in here in the recliner, dreaming about our baby girl and everything that she will be. It’s fun to imagine how in love her grandparents and her great aunt and uncle and cousins will be with her. It’s exciting to think of what she will look like and sound like, whether or not she’ll like to read and play outside, watch movies and color. Will she love Shel Silverstein as much as her mommy does?
This just may be my new favorite thing to do.
The New Chair July 28, 2008
Posted by Mommy in Baby Gear.Tags: Getting the house ready
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Well, this is really more about the new house we’re living in. It’s the same structure we moved into a year ago, but it feels like a brand new place. We have a couple of pieces of new furniture: a baby bed that is in pieces, complete with a mattress still in the bag, and an AWESOME new chair that rocks, swivels, and reclines. We may just have to fight over that one…perhaps we should have gotten 2!
We’ve spent the last couple of weeks moving things around and cleaning out what used to be our home office so that we can turn it into the upcoming baby’s new room. Or is it the new baby’s upcoming room? This is all so new to me. I’ve been through it from a distance with so many friends; but it is so different when it is you.
So, the guest room has a new-to-it bookshelf stocked with books that could interest our many guests who will flock to see Baby when she/he comes. The kitchen/den has a desk and a bookshelf in it now, with a whole new arrangement that we actually like better. The basement looks like it’s actually part of the house now with a desk and some shelves and books and things that make us want to spend time down there–epecially cooler temperatures when it is 95 degrees in HOT-lanta.
…I actually started this post almost a month ago and then the internet connection freaked out and I thought it was gone. I just recently found out that it was still here in cyberspace storage. Since writing it, the bed is put together and everything else is out of the room except for ALL the stuff in the closet. Not sure where it will all go yet. The house feels like its getting smaller and smaller…
But we’ll have a new baby girl living in there before you can sing “O Christmas Tree”! Hard to believe. Hope we’re ready. Maybe I should start decorating the house for the holidays now…
Back to the Drawing Board July 26, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: car seat, peg perego, stroller
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After we found out we were having a little girl, we headed over to on of the Baby Stores (not to be confused with Baby Place, which is where Baby’s comes from 
). The thought was to buy something pink. While we were there, we decided to take the information we received while on vacation about the non-compatibility of Britax car sats with Maclaren strollers. We have some pretty straight-forward requirements.
- Car seat can’t be ugly
- Needs to fit in the MINI
- LATCH system compliant
- Have side-impact protection
- Work with a stroller
So we have gone away from the idea of buying just the Maclaren XLR and back to the idea of buying a more heavy duty stroller and, possibly an umbrella stroller, if needed. It seems like the Peg Perego infant car seat and Skate stroller perform those features.
So why didn’t we decide to go with the Britax infant car seat and their matching stroller? Apparently, the Britax infant car seat is being replaced in December… after we will have use for it.
Strollers June 5, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, maclaren, stroller, techno xlr
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Stroller, you are evil to me, right now. I’m sure that the future will prove you quite useful and probably my favorite item of baby gear. But right now, you perplex me.
My goodness the options.
Okay, I’ve got to confess something. I have a little bit of a head start. When i was 15, a little sister came into my life. Back then, there was basically only one option, your traditional umbrella-esque, foldable stroller. Sure you saw the occasional first-time, eccentric, spend-too-much-money parent pushing one of the larger strollers, but those wound up parked in the basement in favor of something lightweight.
But today, the umbrella-stroller is only one option. You also have the jogging stroller, the modern take on the pram, and the urban stroller–something that will take the beating of the miles, has larger wheel, and collapses for those darts onto the subway.
General consensus here is that you need two… one for “reconnaissance” and one for “expeditions”. In other words, you need a lightweight, foldable one, and you need a heavy duty one.
I’m thinking that we’d go with the umbrella and one of the more substantial city strollers, that could double as a jogger on S.’s morning walks.
Then there was the curveball. The in thing to do is to get a stroller that will accept you infant car-seat (so you don’t have to wake the baby). Remember the last post where the tipping factor between Graco/ Britax was length of baby? Well, the Britax car seat does not seem to be acceptable to too many strollers. But I think we’ve decided on this:
This is the Maclaren Techno XLR. It’s foldable. The handles telescope. It accepts the Britax Companion car seat. The only problem is that its so hard to find! I want to find one before I decide. Oh, and Maclaren invented the umbrella stroller. I’m sold.
So the Recon Stroller is settled. The expedition stroller is still up in the air.
Stay tuned
Edited: Yeah, so we go to the Maclaren store while in New York. A wonderfully nice lady informs us that, contrary to claims on website, there’s no way the Maclaren XLR accepts the Britax Companion. Back to the drawing board.
Car Seats June 4, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: britax, car seat, graco
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A car seat seems to be the place to start. Initially, this made sense to me as it is probably the first thing that you will actually need so that you can get the baby from the hospital to the home (yes, friends, S. is very upset that the stork doesn’t deposit said baby on the front step on Saturday morning). Little did I know that several other purchases hinge on this choice.
The first choice to make is how will you approach the whole car seat thing. The economical way to handle things is to buy what they call a “convertible” care seat. This is a car seat that can face forward or backwards. Additionally, it not only takes a toddler but also has an “insert” for the seat so that an infant can fit in the seat, safely and snugly (is snugly a word?).
Even though my checkbook was really liking the idea of purchasing a convertible seat, I was quickly persuaded to consider purchasing both an infant car seat and a toddler car seat. Here’s why: the infant car seats are basically baby carriers that lock into a pedestal/ base attached to the car. What’s the payoff? You don’t have to wake the baby to get it in from the car. Simply unclip and go.
So it seems that there are two hands-down odds-on favorite:
The Britax Companion:
They are both lauded as safe. The determining factor seems to be that if you have a long baby, go for the Britax. I’m 6′4″.
Done.
Or so I thought. Stay tuned…
And the Search Begins June 4, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, britax, car seat, gear, maclaren, pram, stroller
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Dear me. I must confess, for the past week, I’ve done some reading on the internet about different “baby gear”. The advantage of the “Googles” is that you can alway turn the computer off when you hit your saturation level.
Yesterday, S. and I made our first excursion to the stores to actually look at gear. Oh my. There’s so much stuff to think about. Good thing we’ve got 6 months to plan all this stuff. Otherwise, we’d be up the proverbial creek.
We went to two different places. It painfully obvious that our tastes and demeanor for how we like to shop far outstrips our budget. So we have to set a process and prioritize. What do we buy, what do we register for, what can we buy used, and what must be purchased new.
I don’t really know where the process goes.. so I guess I’ll start posting stuff by priority.
S. is well into week 13, now. She’s doing okay. I still find it uncanny how her sense of smell has come out of nowhere.
